AMERICAN TO HEAD AVIATION SECTIONS
—
Lieutenant William Thaw to Command Lafayette Escadrille According to Rumor
(By H. G. Wales)
(I. N. S. Staff Correspondent.)
Paris, Oct. 16.—Lieutenant
William Thaw of Pittsburgh, may succeed Captain Thenault, the French army officer, as commander of the Lafayette escadrille, if present plans go through.
Captain Thenault has been in continuous command of the group of American aviators for almost two years—ever since the then Sergeant Thaw organized it as an exclusively American unit. The Frenchman is now in need of a rest and it is reported that Lieutenant Thaw will be placed in direct command during the captain's absence, and that if things run smoothly, the position will be made permanent.
Sub-Lieutenant
Raoul Lufbery of Wallingford, Conn., who has officially shot down fourteen German aeroplanes, has already been recommended for a full lieutenancy, and it is expected that he will be made second in command to Lieutenant Thaw.
Thus, for the first time, the escadrille would be composed of Americans and officered entirely and led by American citizens.
The American escadrille was organized by William Thaw in December of 1915. Working in conjunction with the aviation department of the French army, Thaw obtained the release of several Americans flying for France, from the various French escadrilles to which they were attached, by incorporating them into a distinct American unit, except that Captain Thenault was placed in command. None of the Americans ranked higher than sergeant in those days, and Lieutenant De Laage, who was killed recently, was appointed as second in command.
Elliott C. Cowden, now in the United States, Bert Hall of Eagle Pass, Tex., recently instructor in an aviation school at San Diego, Ca., and Norman Prince, Victor Chapman and Kiffen Rockwell, all killed in action, comprised the original "Big Six" which formed the American escadrille. The escadrille as an American unit, received its baptism of fire at the beginning of the crown prince's offensive against Verdun in February of 1916, and Chapman was the first man killed. Prince was the second victim and Rockwell was the third of the original members. Soon afterward Cowden obtained his release and for a time was attached to a British staff officer as liaison messenger and Bert Hall obtained a transfer to the Rumanian front, attached to the Russian aviation service. When America declared war he obtained his release from the Russian army and proceeded at once to the United States.
Meantime, before the United States declared war, Secretary of State Lansing communicated the information to the French ministry of foreign affairs that the unit officially termed the "American escadrille," was distasteful to the authorities at Washington at a time when America was not actually at war with Germany. So the French requested the name of the unit be changed and the title "Lafayette escadrille" was adopted.
The fighting strength of a fighting escadrille is about twenty men. With hundreds of American youths passing through the various aviation instruction schools in France and being brevetted as full-fledged pilots as the rate of more than a hundred a month, it is manifestly impossible that all can be received in the Lafayette escadrille. So the system used—much as secret societies and fraternities in universities pick out eligible men whom they "bid in" to their ranks.
The Lafayette escadrille keeps tabs as closely as possible on the youngsters learning to be pilots at the various schools and intimate to the French aviation authorities whom they would like as members of the escadrille.
Janesville Daily Gazette - Friday, November 02, 1917
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